Units, shipping and payment
How shipping method matching works
The delivery method a buyer asks for is matched against the delivery options Shopify actually offers for that order.
Updated
Purchase orders name a delivery method in whatever words the buyer uses: “Ground”, “Best Way”, “Customer pickup”, “2-day”. Shopify has its own delivery options, configured by you, that apply to a specific order and address.
Matching is the job of getting from the first to the second.
Shopify decides what is available
The candidates always come from Shopify — the delivery options and local delivery options actually available for this order, at this address, for this company location.
PO Autopilot never invents a shipping method or a rate. If Shopify offers no delivery option for an order, there is nothing to choose and no way to construct one; that is a Shopify shipping configuration matter.
How the match is made
A method you have taught. If you have previously resolved this buyer’s wording for this company location, that decision is reused.
A clear match. The buyer’s wording is matched against Shopify’s option titles.
Anything else becomes a decision: Choose a Shopify shipping rate, with Shopify’s currently available options to pick from.
You can have the choice remembered, so the same wording from the same buyer resolves next time. That is where most of the benefit is — buyers are consistent, and “Best Way” means the same thing to a given customer every time.
The rate is Shopify’s
The price attached to the delivery option comes from Shopify. The freight amount printed on the purchase order does not override it — see Shipping price differences.
Rates can change while you review
Delivery rates are read live. If a rate changes between your choosing it and the draft being created, the order returns to review rather than being created at a price you did not agree to.
You will see the shipping decision reopened. Choose again — usually the same option, now at its current price — and continue.
Orders that say nothing about shipping
Many purchase orders do not name a delivery method. Nothing is asked, and the draft is created without a delivery option. You can add one in Shopify afterwards if you need it.